A force among the Madness.
 
Coming in unheralded, the Grand Canyon University Women's Rugby team sped its way to a 4^th-place finish at the College Rugby Championship May Madness 7's Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia. The top-4 finish was a surprise to most observers of the 16-team tournament, since this the Lopes' first-ever foray in a 7's national tourney.
 
The Lopes came out of the West Bracket to the final four quickly, dispatching No. 7 seed Southern Oregon University, 21-10, before holding 3^rd-seeded Virginia Tech University to a single score in a 12-5 quarterfinal win just hours after the first victory.
 
The Lopes' Cinderella story was grounded on Day 2, though, by top-seeded perennial powerhouse Life University (Georgia), who shut out the young Lopes, 22-0. That sent the Lopes to the 3^rd-place game against another highly regarded national power, Penn State University, who dispatched GCU, 34-7, in their final match.
 
The 2-2 record still thrust the Lopes into an unprecedented spotlight for them – especially since multiple Lopes' matches were broadcast live on CBS Sports Network. It also increased the national resumes of Lopes' freshman backs Bianca Curtis and Angel Lucero, who were the team's scoring leaders during the tournament; as well as GCU's field leader, sophomore Amaya De La Cruz, who was named to the May Madness 7's All-Tournament team.
 
Lopes' Head Coach Lindsey Mahoney also relied on a little faith as well, since the national tournament was the rugby debut of two GCU Club Sports' student-athletes who are stalwarts in other sports: Liz Bristow (GCU Women's Club Basketball) and Samantha Garcia (GCU Club Softball).
 
"The girls had a blast playing sevens for the first time, and we were able to use the platform to show the rugby community who we are," said Mahoney. "It was a great first opportunity to branch into the sevens world and show what a bright future this program has."
 
The Lopes finally put a capper on a record-setting 2022 season with a 9-4 overall mark.